Rotary regenerative heat exchangers



Oct. 5, 1965 w. HRYNISZAK ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGERS 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 24, 1965 Oct. 5, 1965 w. HRYNISZAK 3,209,813

ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGERS Filed April 24, 1963 4 sheets-sheet2 0% 1965 w. HRYNISZAK 3,209,813

ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGERS Filed April 24, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet3 Oct. 5, 1965 w. HRYNISZAK 3,209,813

ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGERS Filed April 24, 1963 4 s t s 4 f o oo o o o o o 1h [2 4. 15% H m I IL 19 Jgd .79 J6 $2 6 o o o o o o o /JJ1294M. G o

\ O O O O O O O O United States Patent 3,209,813 ROTARY REGENERATIVEHEAT EXCHANGERS Waldemar Hryniszak, Newcastle upon Tyne, England,

assignor to C. A. Parsons & Company Limited, Newcastle upon Tyne,England, a company of Great Britain Filed Apr. 24, 1963, Ser. No.275,301

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 27, 1962,

2 Claims. (Cl. 165-9) This invention relates to rotary regenerative heatexchangers of the kind in which the heat exchanging fluids flow througha rotor of heat storing material in the direction of the axis of therotor and which have sealing arrangements between part of the heatexchanger through which hot fluid flows and the part through which coldfluid flows to prevent or reduce leakage between the hot fluid and coldfluid parts of the heat exchanger.

The effectiveness of such seals depends upon the amount of thermaldistortion of the rotor which takes place and recent developments haveled to the production of rotors of ceramic or other like materials whichhave virtually no expansion at operating temperatures of such heatexchangers even when they are used with gas turbine plant.

The object of the present invention is to provide an effective sealingarrangement for a rotary regenerative heat exchanger of the kindreferred to in the first paragraph of this specification with a rotormade of such material or materials.

The invention which is more particularly defined in the appended claimsin brief consists in a rotary regenerative heat exchanger comprising astationary housing, a rotor, heat storing material in said rotor adaptedfor rotation in said housing, passages in said heat storing material forallowing the passage of heat exchanging fluid from one end face of therotor to an opposite end face thereof in the direction of the axis ofthe rotor, chambers in the said housing, a chamber for hot fluidadjacent each end face of the rotor, a chamber for cold fluid adjacenteach end face of the rotor, sealing means co-operating with said endfaces of the rotor along a chord or diameter thereof and with aperipheral face thereof in the direction of the rotor axis, the sealsacting on the end face of the rotor being separate from those on theperipheral face.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the general arrangement of a rotaryregenerative heat exchanger in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention with inlet and outlet ducts cut away being drawn in part onlyto indicate a method of connection;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional end elevation on line II-II of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view partly in section on line III-III of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 shows separate parts of the sealing arrangement used in FIGURES1 to 3 forming components of the upper half of the main seal namely topcover, periphery seal, face seal, springs, spacer and mid plate notnecessarily to scale; and

FIGURE 4a is a typical section showing the relative position of theseals of FIGURE 4 or assembly of upper half of face seal shown in FIGURE4.

In carrying the invention into eifect in the form illustrated by way ofexample and referring to FIGURES 1 to 3 a rotary regenerative heatexchanger comprises a housing 1 and a rotor 2 mounted on shaft 3 so asto rotate within the housing.

Connected to housing 1 are inlet and outlet ducts of heat exchangingfluids. For the purpose of explanation it will be assumed that duct 4 isan inlet duct for low pressure fluid and duct 5 an outlet duct for lowpressure fluid,

ice

duct 6 an inlet duct for high pressure fluid and duct 7 an outlet ductfor high pressure fluid.

The rotor 2 is in the form of a disc with heat storage material 2alocated between inner and outer support rings 2b and 20 respectively.

Low pressure fluid, which in a gas turbine application of the heatexchanger, could be hot exhaust gas from the turbine, would enter duct 4flow axially through the rotor 2 and leave through duct 5.

High pressure fluid, which in the aforesaid gas turbine application ofthe heat exchanger could be air from a compressor on its way to acombustion chamber, would enter duct 6, pass axially through the rotorand leave via duct 7. The rotor as it rotates alternately receives heatfrom the hot fluid and gives this heat up to the cold fluid.

The use of ceramics generally, glass-ceramics or other low expansionmaterials for the rotor substantially or completely eliminates thermaldistortion of the rotor as it passes from hot fluid passages to coldfluid passages.

In order to prevent leakage across the face or edge of the rotor betweenthe hot fluid and cold fluid part of the heat exchanger a sealingarrangement 8 is provided. This provides sealing along a diametral orchord line on the end faces of the rotor and along its peripheral edgein an axial direction.

The sealing arrangement shown comprises a rectangular or squareframework housing the seals. There are two outer plates 9, 10 and anintermediate plate 11, the plate 11 being spaced from each of the plates9 and 10 by spacer plates 12, 13. The shape of these plates can be seenfrom FIGURE 4. The plate 10 and the spacer 13 are not shown in FIGURE 4;they are identical with plates 9 and 12 respectively.

The outer edges of the plates 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are in line and asthe spacer plates 12 and 13 have a larger opening, a space is formedbetween the inner edge of the spacer plate and the faces of plates 9 and11 or 11 and 10. One such space formed between the plate 9 and the plate11 is shown at 14 in FIGURE 4a.

In these spaces are located the seals. Considering the part of the sealabove plate 11, seals 15a, 15b seal against a peripheral edge of therotor and are spaced by flexible seals 16. Seals 17a, 17b seal along adiametral or chord line of the end faces of the rotor and are spaced byflexible seals 18. Wave springs 19 urge the seals 15a, 1512 into sealingcontact with the peripheral edges of the rotor whilst wave springs 20urge seals 17a, 1712' into contact with the end faces of the rotor. Asimilar sealing arrangement is provided between plates 11 and 10, seals15c and 15d sealing the peripheral edges of the rotor and seals 17c and17d sealing the end faces of the rotor. 15d is not seen in the sectionalviews of FIGURES 1 and 2 but is similar to seal 15b.

The seals 15, 17 should be of high temperature resistant material andhave low thermal expansion. Pyritic graphite constitutes suitablematerial.

The plates are clamped together by bolts 21 to hold the seals inposition. The whole sealing arrangement is clamped by bolts 22 to ashaft housing 23.

As the rotor must have clearance from the casing to allow it to rot-ate,a leakage path is provided between one end face of the disc and theother, between the edge of the rotor and the housing 1. To prevent fluidfollowing this path rather than through the rotor, further seals 24 areprovided which extend circumferentially around the rotor. As thepressure difference across the disc from end face to end face is small,being due to the pressure drop in the rotor itself, these seals may below pressure seals. Suitable material would be graphite.

I claim:

1. A rotary regenerative heat exchanger comprising a stationary housing,a rotor mounted for rotation in said housing, heat storing material insaid rotor, passages in said heat storing material for allowing thepassage of heat exchanging fluid from one end face of the rotor to anopposite end face thereof in the direction of the axis of the rotor,chambers in said housing, a chamber for hot fluid adjacent each end faceof the rotor, a chamber for cold fluid adjacent each end face, sealingmeans for operating with said end faces of the rotor along a chord ordiameter thereof and separate sealing means extending axially along andcooperating with a peripheral phase of the rotor, each of said sealingmeans comprising two spaced parts, and flexible sealing means providinga spacer between said two parts, said two parts of each sealing meansdefining a rectangular opening receiving said rotor in surroundingrelationship. v

2. A rotary regenerative heat exchanger comprising a stationary housing,a rotor mounted for rotation in said housing, heat storing material insaid rotor, passages in said heat storing material for allowing thepassage of heat exchanging fluid from one end face of the rotor to anopposite end face thereof in the direction of the axis of the rotor,chambers in said housing, a chamber for hot fluid adjacent each end faceof the rotor, a chamber for cold fluids adjacent each end face, sealingmeans cooperating with said end faces of the rotor along a chord ordiameter thereof and separate sealing means extending axially along andcooperating with a pcripheral face of the rotor, spaced seal retainingplates, spacers disposed between portions of said plates, both of saidsealing means being disposed between said plates and between saidspacers and said rotor, both of said sealing means defining arectangular opening receiving said rotor in surrounding relationship,and spring means disposed between said spacers and the outer edges ofboth of said sealing means to urge both of said sealing means intosealing engagement with said rotor.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,579,212 12/51Stevens et al. 16510 3,000,617 9/61 Kitko 1659 FOREIGN PATENTS 155,87211/52 Australia. 709,638 6/54 Great Britain.

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES SUKALO, Examiner.

1. A ROTARY REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER COMPRISING A STATIONARY HOUSING,A ROTOR MOUNTED FOR ROTATION IN SAID HOUSING, HEAT STORING MATERIAL INSAID ROTOR, PASSAGES IN SAID HEAD STORING MATERIAL FOR ALLOWING THEPASSAGE OF HEAT EXCHANGING FLUID FROM ONE END FACE OF THE ROTOR TO ANOPPOSITE END FACE THEREOF IN THE DIRECTION OF THE AXIS OF THE ROTOR,CHAMBERS IN CAIS HOUSING, A CHAMBER FOR HOT FLUID ADJACENT EACH END FACEOF THE ROTOR, A CHAMBER FOR COLD FLUID ADJACENT EACH END FACE, SEALINGMEANS FOR OPERATING WITH SAID END FACES OF THE ROTOR ALONG A CHORD ORDIAMETER THEREOF AND SEPARATE SEALING MEANS EXTENDING AXIALLY ALONG ANDCOOPERATING WITH A PERIPHERAL PHASE OF THE ROTOR, EACH OF SID SEALINGMEANS COMPRISING TWO